This recipe is from Bamberg, a city in northern Bavaria, where the feast day of St. Cunegund (March 3rd) is celebrated by baking these special pastry rings that are normally not available during other times of the year. This recipe comes from an old bakery in Bamberg that was established in the 1800’s. Reprinted with permission from, Cooking With The Saints by Ernst Schuegraf.
Kunigundenringe
(Rings of St. Cunegund)Makes 12 to 16 rings
3 Tbsp Sugar
¾ Cup Milk, lukewarm
2 Tbsp Dry Yeast
4 Cup Flour
1 ½ tsp Salt
1 Egg, at room temperature
1 Cup butter, unsalted
Dissolve 1 Tablespoon of sugar in the lukewarm milk. Add the yeast and stir. Let stand for 10 minutes or until it is quite frothy.
Pour the flour, the remaining sugar and the salt into a bowl and mix well. Beat the egg slightly and blend into the frothy yeast. Add yeast and egg mixture to the flour and stir until well blended. The dough should be soft but not sticky. It may be necessary at this stage to add more milk or flour to make a soft dough.
Knead for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. The dough should double in size. After this put the dough in the refrigerator and leave it there until it is quite cool, approximately 1 hour.
For the following step it is essential that the dough and butter are cold and at the same temperature. The butter should not be very hard. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out on a lightly floured table into a rectangle. It should be about ¼ inch thick. Cut the cup of butter into thin slices and put them on 1/3 of the rectangle. Fold the buttered part over onto the dough so that the butter is covered. The remaining 1/3 of the dough should be folded over the already folded part. With a rolling pin gently press down on the dough. The trick is not to let any butter escape from the sides. Roll until you have another rectangle. Fold it over twice as before and put in the refrigerator to let it cool for another half-hour.
Repeat the procedure of rolling and folding the dough 4 times.
To make the rings, roll out the dough to about ¼ inch thick. You may cut out rings of about 6 inches with a 3-inch hole in the middle. The cutout may be baked as is. If you want more rings, cut strips about 18 inches long and about 3 inches wide. Join the ends and shape the dough into a ring. You can brush the rings with an equal mixture of egg yolk and milk.
Place the rings on a baking sheet sprinkled with water and let rise for about 20 minutes until they have doubled in size. Preheat oven to 450°F.
Bake the rings in the middle of the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until golden. Transfer immediately to a wire rack and let them cool.
